I decided a few days ago that this week's blog instalment was going to be on the subject of Adam and Jane - the BT ad couple who seem to have captured the nation with the various fictional stages of their relationship over the past five years. As the computer cranked to life (I am writing this from the basic facilities at our holiday apartment's reception in Kos), I was shocked and thrilled to discover that conveniently, today is the day that Adam and Jane have been banned from our screens! Excellent.
Most of the adverts were centred around story lines concerning Jane's children from a previous relationship (because BT is obviously sensitive to the complications of the modern day romance) and how an efficient INTERNET connection and phone line is intrinsic to the success or failure of this tricky thing called love. For some reason, the neurotic and somewhat dull pair, consisting of "that bloke from My Family" and "that MILF" captured the nation's hearts and all hell broke loose when BT aired an advert showing them breaking up when Adam took a job in the far off lands of Cornwall. Facebook groups campaigning for the couple's reunion popped up over night, attracting thousands of members who breathed a sigh of relief when BT decided they would marry the pair afterall. Then a stunning 1.6 million people voted the outcome of the recent 'Jane rubbing her stomach' saga in a 'what happens next? - you decide' campaign - oh she's pregnant. Well done Great Britain, that is highly imaginative of you.
Here we have a montage of the most significant moments in the story of Adam and Jane before the pregnancy plot came into play....
And here is the advert which won the nation's vote...
BUT! ASA have now banned the adverts following the screening of the latest instalment in the exciting lives of the couple. Adam is being shown around a property by an estate agent while he chats to Jane on the phone. Jane is loading up images of the property and browing through them at lightning speed, which Adam claims is amazing considering it's 6pm and half the world is online.
The ad has been launched to promote BT's new 20MB broadband service which Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin all claim cannot be substantiated. BT customers are grumbling that Jane is browsing far to quickly for any Internet connection to handle, no matter how advanced. There is also the problem that this new BT service is only available to half of all households and will take two years to meet it's target of 75% availability.
The tag line of the campaign is this... "BT is rolling out up to 20 meg speeds to give you a consistently faster broadband throughout the day even at peak times." - Clearly misleading to it's customer base.
So it looks as if Adam and Jane are gone for good. GOOD RIDDANCE I say, Adam is nothing more than an awkward, gangly man child who chats up Jane's mates at house parties with hilarious lines about what broadband connection they have, or buggers off to Cornwall at the drop of a hat, whilst plain old Jane waits patiently at home, phone or computer at hand just waiting for her geek in shining armour to decide to make contact.
This is not a good representation of modern romance, it's irritating and now it's downright misleading, not only in its plot lines but also now in the product it's selling! So well done, ASA, I can now enjoy my ad breaks without feeling the need to chunder each time I see this unremarkable coupling and their latest 'dear diary' moment.
By Jessica Hazel
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